Though the deal still has to be finalized, it looks like NBA basketball is finally coming back to Seattle. According to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski, the Maloof family is close to selling the Sacramento Kings to an ownership group led by Chris Hansen and Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer:

The Maloofs are finalizing an agreement to sell the Sacramento Kings to the Hansen-Ballmer led Seattle group, sources tell Yahoo! Sports.

Obviously, this is massive news on more than one front. The Hansen-Ballmer group has long sought after a team to bring back NBA basketball to Seattle after the SuperSonics relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 and became the Thunder.

The Thunder's move to OKC was met with understandable scorn and a grassroots campaign began to bring NBA basketball back to Seattle started almost instantly. The movement produced a documentary and plenty of other fan involvement, but really took hold when the city agreed to build a new arena back in September.

With an agreement seemingly ready to go, it looks like Seattle's five-year window without their Sonics has ended.

However, it also marks the end of an era in Sacramento. The Kings have been in California's capital city since 1985 and have a fanbase that is undoubtedly sullen as Seattle fans are ecstatic.

As it's wont to do, Twitter exploded with the news of the Kings' impending sale. With that in mind, let's take a look at all the best tweets from around the web.

Fans in Kansas City were also disappointed, many of whom wanted their Kings to return as well. Danny Parkins of 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City sent out a disappointed sentiment that many in Missouri are likely feeling at the moment:

So much for the pipe dream of the return of the Kansas City Kings... All 7 of us NBA fans in KC continue to struggle.

For those wondering about Clay Bennett's ownership of the Sonics name, the Oklahoma City owner reportedly agreed to hand it over to a new Seattle group for free as part of his agreement, per Royce Young of CBS Sports:

Clay Bennett owns the SuperSonics name and logo, but under the settlement, agreed to turn it over to a new Seattle owner at no cost.

In the end, the NBA's return to Seattle will ultimately be what the city makes of it. The Kings aren't a great team and have a ton of rebuilding to do in the future, but Seattle may be the one place that is basketball-hungry enough to let that happen.